


When a Hill Joins the Hunt

by ShunKickShunKers



Series: Of Hills and Hunts [1]
Category: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Maria Hill is Ethan's niece, William Brandt is NOT Clint Barton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-15
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-29 12:44:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1005608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShunKickShunKers/pseuds/ShunKickShunKers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Hill was Hunt’s niece and he called her for help after the Kremlin went down?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a random thought popped into mind when I re-watched Mission Impossible that turned into a story. I mean, wouldn't it be fun to have Hunt as Hill's uncle? And while I only ship Clintasha and Barton&Hill friendship, I'd totally see Brandt with her (and awkward...wait, isn't Barton with Romanoff? from other SHIELD members xD) Ok, off with the rambling. Read and enjoy!

 

 

 

**When a Hill joins the Hunt –1**

 

_Ethan pov:_

 

The Secretary was dead. The whole team disavowed, tagged as criminals and on top of that, Ethan had inherited of an analyst who didn’t know better. Had Ethan had the time to ponder over the situation, he would have dealt with a massive headache. Thankfully, time was the one thing he lacked so he did what he knew best; he sprang into action.

The positive point in this situation was that he actually had a backup team; Carter, Benji and like it or not, Brandt. What he needed now were resources, a contact who could falsify passports good enough to bypass airport security and fly them from Moscow to Dubai without raising the Russians’ suspicions. His list of contacts had dramatically shortened with the IMF’s disablement and although people owed him favors, he couldn’t think of someone who would actually satisfy all his demands in such short time with efficiency.

Except maybe…

Ethan shook his head. While she was the most likely candidate to help him out, he wouldn’t –couldn’t –drag her in this mess. She was his only remaining living relative and although she had more underground contacts he could ever dream of, he couldn’t ask her to get involved in his schemes again.

But did he have any other choice?

He swore, made up his mind, picked up the phone in the back of the wagon and dialed a number he had memorized years ago.

The tune rang once, twice, thrice, and was about to ring a fourth leaving Ethan to wonder if she actually had her phone on when she answered.

_“Hill.”_

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. Even though it had been years it felt good to hear her voice, no matter how dry it sounded.

“Is this line secured?” he asked, skipping the pleasantries. Although he would have loved a chat, time wasn’t friendly. The pause on the other end made him believe she hadn’t heard or recognized him. He was about to repeat his question when she finally replied:

_“What do you want?”_

“Are you sure this line is secured?” he asked again, more intensely. He would answer her question later. Right now, he needed a positive answer.

 _“No one’s been following me”_ she replied as dryly as ever, quite annoyed now. “ _Again, what do you want Ethan_?”

He’d have to take that for a ‘yes’.

“I need four passports for Dubai. Three men, one woman. You have the name of a contact in mind?”

Another heavy sigh was her answer.

_“Three years of silence. I thought you were dead.”_

“Maria, I’ll catch up with you once this is all done.” He cut dryly.

 _“Whatever.”_ Ethan could perfectly picture her rolling her eyes; an old habit when she was exasperated. _“Where are you?”_

“Moscow.”

_“You always chose the fun places, don’t you?”_

“I don’t have time to play games.” He snapped, more than annoyed now. “Just give me a goddamn name.” 

She spilled the address of a forger and a safe house’s and added: _“Keep in mind, you’re an ass.”_

And she hung up on him. Ethan winced and hooked the phone back on the wall. Maria Hill, his dear niece, had a cold temper that could surpass his on a good day. Although he was tired after a very busy day, Ethan was not keen on getting into a fight with her. He hoped he could make up with her after this mess was over. That is, if they made it alive. After taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes to set his mind on priorities. He had a mission to prepare.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 2! Read and enjoy :)

**When a Hill joins the Hunt -2**

 

**Ethan POV:**

 

The Russian forger was a loud ass, but after Ethan pronounced his niece’s name they managed to reach an understanding. The guy had assured him the passports would be ready for the next morning but that they’d have to pick them up themselves. In the meantime they all gathered in the safehouse Maria had directed them to. It was a surprisingly clean and comfy apartment with warm water and two bedrooms.

Booking a room at the Burj Khalifa was the only issue now, but Ethan figured he’d had to wait for his new ID to make the reservation anyway. He tried to gain a bit of sleep –rather unsuccessfully, with Benji shifting position in his sleep and Brandt pacing in the living room. Perhaps he should have gone to soothe the analyst, but he couldn’t find the strength right now. He was wiped out by his escape and late injuries and Brandt was a big boy from IMF; he could deal on his own.

The next morning, it became obvious that no-one had a restful sleep. Circles were deep under their eyes and the quietness a real tension in spite of the peacefulness of the place.

Someone knocked on the door.

Everyone jumped in jumped in surprise and exchanged stares. Benji stared, swallowing and slightly panicking at the unexpected noise. He turned sharply towards their team leader and asked nervously:

“How safe is this safehouse exactly?”

Ethan sent him a warning glance, daring the tech to continue. Instead of wasting more time, he grabbed his gun and walked cautiously towards the door. The others safe for Brandt picked up their firearm and positioned into a backup stance. He glanced through the peephole but could only see a black cap covering brown hair. An uneasy feeling nagged him as he lowered his weapon and asked loudly:

“кто это?” _(who is this?)_

The answer was pure American.

_“It’s your niece, you goddamn fucking idiot!”_

He opened the door immediately, gun still at hand but hidden behind his back. A brunette wearing a dark brown coat was standing there, arms crossed, eyes flashing and looking thoroughly pissed. Ethan forgot everything about the mission, the papers, his teammates and the rest of the world. His full attentions were focused on the woman glowering at him.

“You and I” slow speech, clear articulation. A warning bell rang in Ethan’s mind. Maria might be eighteen years younger but she could scare the shit out of him. “Need to talk.”

 

* * *

 

 

**Benji POV:**

 

The tech watched with wide eyes Ethan staring warily, really _warily_ , at the newcomer. She was a woman in her early thirties, brown hair and blue eyes. In good shape he’d say, although it was hard to tell with the big coat. Most importantly, she had Ethan Hunt pinned against a wall (in a metaphorical sense) with one stare. Without receiving an invitation, she stepped in, shut the door behind and returned to her intense staring.

Benji opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t gather the courage to utter a word. If the newcomer had stared at him _that_ way, Benji would have totally squirmed. Next to him, Jane and Brandt were oddly quiet. After what seemed to be a lifetime, Ethan finally spoke:

“Maria? Why are you here?”

The woman gave him what Benji assumed to be her ‘ _don’t you dare bullshit with me_ ’ look.

“You were kind enough to let me know you were alive. I came to check that with my own eyes.” She pulled out a large envelope from her jacket. “Your passports and plane tickets. Our flight is leaving in five hours.”

“ _Our_?” Ethan repeated in a sudden high-pitched tone. Benji couldn’t tell if he was angry, flabbergasted or horrified. Maybe all at once.

“You’re on the run, uncle dearest, about to step out of Russia with other disavowed agents.” Maria replied deadpan. Ethan narrowed his eyes.

“How would you know?”

The woman huffed indignantly.

“There was a bombing at the Kremlin and you call me the following day, asking for four passports which mean you can’t contact your own people. Ergo, you are in deep shit, given your history likely disavowed and obviously not alone. And you think I’d let your jolly troop go without a blink?”

“You’ll just be a liability, this isn’t a game!” Ethan retorted.

“I know it’s not a fucking game, why do you think I showed up?” Her eyes flashed in anger but her whole body was perfectly composed. “I got friends in the airport in case things get sour. Don’t worry, I’ll jump on a plane to New York once in Dubai if that makes you happy.” She ended with a glare.

Her stare never left Ethan’s face, eying him with a somewhat calculating look Benji had only seen on Ethan so far. His curiosity won over and he asked bluntly:

“Pardon ma’am but who are you?”

Both Ethan and the woman turned towards him and Benji stiffened. Maria raised one eyebrow.

“Who are _you_?” she asked instead.

The tech truly tried to reply. Words were on the tip of his tongue, ready to be delivered, but his jaw and throat didn’t seem to cooperate. Those steel blue eyes that had unease his team leader were now dead set on him and he found himself incapable of uttering a word. That woman’s stare was more intimidating than a knife.

“These are agent Benji Dumn, Agent Jane Carter and M. Brandt, analyst.” Ethan provided, probably taking pity on the British. “And this is Maria Hill, my niece. She’s a…a journalist.”

Maria rolled her eyes.

“You can say the words Ethan, I’m a bounty hunter.”

“Bounty hunter?” Brandt repeated with a hint of curiosity. The tech nearly jumped out of his skin; he had completely forgotten about the other man’s presence. To Benji’s relief, Maria’s attention reported on the analyst. Brandt didn’t flinch under her stare, merely stared back blankly.

“Yes, I chase criminals for a reward.”

“I know what a bounty hunter is.” Brandt cut. “I just didn’t expect you to be one.”

Maria raised an eyebrow.

“Appearances can be deceptive, don’t you think M. Brandt?”

For a second, the analyst seemed ready to reply something but thought better last minute. Benji couldn’t blame him; _he_ was a field agent and obviously older than the woman but she still scared _him_. Ethan sighed heavily.

“Fine, you’re coming to Dubai, but you are returning to New York right after.”

Maria rolled her eyes again and Benji knew Ethan had no choice anyhow; the woman would follow, like it or not. Obedience and self-preservation were _clearly not_ family traits. Jane eventually attempted to gain control of the situation:

“We need to pack and leave, right? So let’s just do that.”

“Hear, hear” Benji piped in and all attention was on _HIM_ again. The tension was palpable and the tech didn’t like it. Eventually, Ethan took his role as a leader in hand and declared:

“Carter’s right. Let’s pack. I assume you have everything ready?” he added, turning towards Maria. The woman raised an offended eyebrow.

“Who do you think I am?”

Ethan rolled his eyes, but in an Ethan-amused way. Seconds later, a barely visible smirk appeared on Maria’s face and Benji wondered why was the Hunt family ever declared sane.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**When a Hill joins the Hunt -3**

 

Maria pov:

 

If Phil saw her, he’d have a field day. She hadn’t been on vacation for months (if not over a year), had finally meant to take a week off. But right after she locked her office, the non-other Ethan Hunt, her favorite (and only) uncle, called for a forger’s address. In Moscow. Now, Maria knew her uncle had a tendency to get wrapped in incredible impossible situations (he was in IMF after all) and when he ended the call, she just had to check on whatever incident had happened in Moscow. That’s when she remembered the recent bombing of the Kremlin.

It didn’t take her over thirty minutes to get the facts altogether and ask permission to Fury to investigate further. The Director of SHIELD had, thankfully, authorized her leave on the condition she took some backup. She agreed to bring Barton who was bored without his partner, Romanoff being sent in Georgia. They wouldn’t travel together but he would join her later on. It wasn’t until she reached the safehouse that Maria had realized how odd the situation had become. It was a good thing she had left Barton in the car outside; who knows what could have happened if he had fallen face to face with his _doppelganger_? Only her training of keeping a stoic face in any situation had saved her from gaping at the man.

Name: Brandt. Profession: analyst. That last point was bullshit. The guy was about as muscled as Barton and his eyes definitively resembled Barton’s on a bad day. He looked like he had seen through her bounty hunter cover –Ethan had no idea she belonged to SHIELD, and she wanted to kept it that way –but he had shut up when she mentioned deceptive appearances. Either her uncle pretended that the man was an analyst, or Ethan had absolutely no idea. In whatever case, Brandt appeared to be a decent actor.

Maria let that detail slide, making a mental note to check on his file later. More important details were to be solved; which was why she was now on a plane to Dubai, sitting next to Ethan with an urgent desire to snap his neck. But she kept the cool that made her reputation and played clueless. It wouldn’t do good if she let slip that she knew more than he thought.

“So” Maria said once the plane had taken off and most of the passengers around them had gone to their business. “What happened back there?” Ethan stared at her with that ‘ _I don’t know what you’re talking about_ ’ expression. The very same he had given her the last time he had been in deep shit trouble, requested her help and ended up in the hospital for months. “Ethan, I know what happened yesterday is linked to the reason for you being here” Maria couldn’t exactly mention the Kremlin or his situation in a plane full of Russians now, could she. “Now why did it get this bad? Who was behind it?”

Ethan’s lips thinned into a line. An internal debate was raging; he was torn between being honest with her and sparing her the details. Maria had a good idea of what had happened there. The theft of nuclear security codes had been immediately noted but Fury didn’t want to intervene, not yet. Not with Ethan fucking Hunt on the loose and the IMF disavowed. Perhaps that was the reason why he didn’t much blink when she asked for a temporary leave. Perhaps he was hoping she would manage some damage control.

“You still have contacts in the scientific world, right?” she nodded. SHIELD’s database was pretty large; not that’d she tell him. “Can you find anything on a guy named Kurt Hendricks, also known as Cobalt?”

Maria frowned at the name, vaguely remembering hearing it somewhere.

“I’ll see what I can do.” She told him eventually. “Is he responsible?” No answer. She took it for a ‘yes’. “What was he after?”

“I told you too much already.” He cut dryly, then softened as he added: “It’s really good to see you.”

Emotional distraction from the real subject, but it didn’t matter; Maria now had the intel she needed: a name.

“Yeah it is.” She replied with an ‘ _I know what you’re doing but I’ll play along for now’_ smile. “Where have you been these past three years? I couldn’t get hold of you or Julia.”

Ethan grimaced.

“It’s better if you don’t know.” Maria rolled her eyes, resisting to the urge to blurt she could find out within a couple of hours if she asked Jasper. “But Julia…Julia passed away.” 

The woman cursed inwardly. Last time she had met her, Maria thought Julia to be nice and suited to her uncle. The lady had the perfect backbone and temper to complement her husband.

“I’m sorry.” She said genuinely. “Was it an accident?”

Ethan pressed his lips together again. And once again, Maria took it for a ‘ _no, but I won’t tell you the details_ ’.

“Someone wanted leverage.” He eventually said. “We attempted rescue but…it was too late.”

Maria nodded in understanding, but when she tried to catch his gaze, he looked away. It startled her a little; her uncle wasn’t the kind to avoid her except when… _Goddamn idiot_ , she thought again. He only deflected when he was overwhelmed by feelings, or _hiding_ _something_. Couldn’t he just spare her the digging though it all?

“Enough of me. What have you been up to?” he asked in turn. Again, Maria shot him ‘the Look’ but again, played along.

She told him a few anecdotes from work –the few she could allow to tell without revealing her true career, he pinpointed her lack of love life –to which she replied with a glare. After two hours discussion, they both took advantage of the three remaining to catch up a bit of sleep. Or rather, she let Ethan get a bit of sleep. She, on the other hand, resumed to studying the rest of the team. They were seated in the next row, all sleeping except for Brandt, although he was good at pretending. But really, how could anyone fall for the too regular breathing, still form and peaceful looking resting face? No-one slept comfortable in such a rigid position. She had the experience to tell.

The woman, Jane Carter, seemed competent and experienced enough. Benji Dumn was obviously a rookie on the field, probably on his second or third mission. Both of them thought Brandt was an analyst. It was obvious by the way they spoke and treated him. Even Ethan seemed oblivious to the man’s true status. There was still the probability that Maria was wrong, but she had spent years observing Barton, and Brandt was from the same breed.

Maria pulled out a SHIELD ipad and turned it on. She typed a quick email to Barton to run a check out on the agents and send a report to Fury. If a double of Hawkeye was in the loose, it could create some problems later on. The email sent, Maria stored her pad back in her bag and glanced at the so-called analyst again.

As if feeling observed, Brandt suddenly opened his eyes and stared at her. She tilted her head on the side and stared right back. What was he trying to do, she wondered. Evaluate her? Analyze him just like she was? The woman figured now was the best moment to have a quiet conversation without being under watch.

_I see through your act, you don’t fool me_ , she mentally said to him, narrowing her eyes. Brandt didn’t falter, didn’t blink, didn’t say a word. He just nodded and shifted back in his seat, adopting a non-threatening posture.

_I’m not the enemy_ , he seemed to reply before frowning. _But I know you are more than you pretend to say._

She raised an eyebrow.

“Tell me your secret I’ll tell you mine” she mouthed quietly. A quick, faint smile appeared on his face, and it softened his face in a very un-Barton-like way. A short shrug, shift in his seat and he closed his eyes again. Deflecting much, eh? But at least, he wasn’t playing clueless. While she had no idea why he’d want to hide his skills –because she would bet a pretty penny he had skills –she thought it was safe enough to trust him not to stab the team in their back. Plus, if Ethan had any doubt the man was working against them, he would have never allowed him to follow.

Maria sighed and settled more comfortably in the seat. While she was up in the sky, she couldn’t do much. She closed her eyes and figured the rest would have to wait.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First part of the Burj Khalifa (I skipped some dialogs from the movie and most scenes are summarized. The fun part will be next chapter, sorry I hate rewritings). Hill is gone here, but she'll come back soon enough :)  
> Read and enjoy!

**When a Hill joins the Hunt -4**

 

Brandt pov

 

The moment they landed, Ethan had accompanied Maria to the closest airline to buy a ticket to New York and made sure she went through the boarding gate. Brandt had sighed in relief. The woman didn’t scare him, not really, but he would have hated to have to spend more time with someone he couldn’t trust. The silent exchange they had had only confirmed his theory that she was more than a mere bounty hunter and how observant she actually was. She had his number from the moment she saw him and he had no idea why.

One thing Brandt didn’t understand was why she hadn’t told Hunt about her suspicions. The senior agent would have listened to her, probably interrogated him right away, and Brandt wouldn’t have concealed his past field career longer. But she kept quiet and he was left to deal with her suspicious side glances. On his side, he couldn’t quite pinpoint her background. Her rigidity and whole behavior screamed military. The way she spoke and stared suggested someone used to giving orders and used to be obeyed, so not a mere soldier but more of a leader. Given her age, he’d say she was head of some department, but _what_ he didn’t know.

Maria Hill was intriguing for sure. And those steel blue eyes? Fascinating.

He slapped himself mentally. Not the place, not the time, and definitively not the right person. She was Ethan’s niece. His family. And given the way he had managed Ethan’s family before… _Don’t go there_ , he reminded himself. More important things were at stake.

A bump in the road made him jump and hit the car’s side against which he was leaning. The team had leaned a small van to drive to the Burj Khalifa but with Ethan behind the wheel, the ride was far from smooth.

“What do I do?” he ended up asking after hearing the laid out plan the team had prepared. Benji smirked mockingly at him.

“You’re the Helper.”

“The Helper?” he repeated in disbelief. A childish part of him wanted to sulk. Another wanted to punch the tech. “Great.”

They barely ducked a group of camels thanks to Ethan’s inattentiveness, causing everyone to yelp or laugh and forget the tension momentarily. Brandt fell into silence and glanced at the landscape as they drove.

Two days ago, his life was limited to his job as an analyst. Now he was stuck with Ethan Hunt and two other IMF agents on a wild goose chase for nuclear codes. It would have been so easy to snatch the files then find a way to go after Hendricks. Once the files back, he knew a couple of people who could have talked in their favor, explain the situation with the Russians diplomatically. A first, the Secretary wanted to gain time to help Hunt. Throw him on a scent, make him disappear for a while with a purpose and within weeks the affair would have been cleared. With that gained time, the Secretary could make his diplomatic relations work, at the price of his position and the IMF’s disablement. Without the codes, Hendricks couldn’t do much. But the Secretary was dead and the wild goose chase had turned into a real thing with him involved.

Brandt sighed and figured he better worked on his acting skills. Better not raise suspicions with Ethan more than necessary, especially if that woman –Maria –had seen through his cover so easily. Ethan would catch up eventually, but the later the better.

They arrived at the Burj Khalifa and checked their rooms without a hitch. They were settling the material and setting the mask machines when the shit hit the fan.

“Oh…this is a slight wrinkle” Benji stated. “But nothing to worry about.” A wrinkle? Brandt wanted to laugh. With IMF, any problem was never a wrinkle. And it did turn out to be something major. “We’re just going to have to go inside the server from the outside.”

“What?!” Ethan asked in passive-aggressive disbelief.

No server meant no elevators, meant no cameras, meant no manipulation. They were stuck. But Benji kept insisting they could manage if they entered from the outside. Ethan stared at the tech, wordlessly wondering why Benji wasn’t en route.  

“I’m…I’m on the computer.”

Ethan and Benji turned towards him with the same question in their eyes, Brandt blinked in disbelief. Were they serious?

“I’m just the Helper” he said dismissively, waving towards Benji to prove his point.

Ethan started shooting idea after idea to find a solution to get to the server room. The suggestions were good, but all were countered by Benji and the lack of time. Brandt was used to come up with plans and would have, but he liked to be surrounded by calm to think them through and anticipate each and every move. Now, not only he needed to put up with the background noise and the stress but he also had to watch out to not reveal his own ‘talents’ to the man he had epically failed in the past. And thank God he had decided to stick to his analyst background, because there in no way was he would climb up eleven storages up to the 130th level. He kept himself in shape out of habit, but he wasn’t that flexible anymore.

“How are we going to do this?” Ethan wondered out loud. Benji’s answer was to fly a glove against the wall. A climbing glue glove. Brandt had spoken to the guy who had designed them. That same guy had ended with a broken leg after trying to adjust jumping sneakers.

In complete Ethan Hunt fashion, the agent didn’t resist the challenge of climbing the building after all. Brandt took the laptop and busied himself checking out the camera feeds while Benji activated the masks machine. For a full minute, the analyst wondered, and eventually asked the question burning on his lips:

“Say Benji, were these glove tried before?”

The tech glanced from over the mask machine.

“Of course they were tested.” He assured him

“I mean in a true-live-endangering mission.”

Benji opened his mouth, paused, then shrugged.

“It worked in the labs. There is no reason why it shouldn’t now.”

“And how long do they last?” Brandt pressed further, starting to worry even more. The British shrugged.

“Long enough, probably.”

The analyst preferred not to comment on that and resumed to doing the countdown. Eventually he stopped after Ethan nearly slipped to death and Jane gave him an insistent glare. He hated feeling useless. Being in Ethan’s presence painfully reminded him how _useless_ he actually was. So he sat back and watched the hall while keeping an eye on older agent’s progress, and obeyed when assigned the task of watching for Moreau or Winstorm while Jane and Benji ran to change the room numbers. They had gone for a short while before another inconvenience showed up.

As if he was in charge of bearing the bad news, he spotted Moreau in one of the elevators. Ahead of schedule. And none of the three agents had returned. He spread the message and felt reassured when Jane arrived straight back to pick up her stuff and get ready, and checked out for Ethan's return. He shouldn't have been surprised to see the man use another dangerous -faster -technique to join them -a cable and run down the building? Seriously? Good thinking, except for the moment Ethan was stuck a couple of windows away.

“The line not’s long enough!” Brandt shouted. He was pointing out the obvious and felt he totally deserved the unnerved:

“No shit!”

And so Ethan came up with his very Ethan-way to solve the problem. He ran, and jumped. And missed the window. Brandt had his years of sharpened reflexes to grab the feet dangling near his hand, but years of relaxation to fail catching something to hold onto. Good thing Jane was a well-trained (in better shape) agent too. Benji bursting into the room was the comic break before everyone returned to their job. The adrenaline rush was still there, and less tense as they prepared for the infiltration but suddenly…

Winstorm wasn’t alone. And the person accompanying him…

“Leonid Lisenker. Polish-born cryptographer.” The meaning of his presence froze Brandt’s blood.

He was here to identify the documents. and Ethan had that brilliant idea.

“It’s not gonna happen. I won’t let it.” Brandt said, snatched the briefcase before Hunt could catch it and let it hang outside the window. The agent was a brilliant mind, but truly, but handing the codes to a terrorist? No way.

“You tell me this is his only avenue, right here, right now, today. You tell me that, I’ll walk away.”

As if confirming the imminent failure of the mission, the machine stopped making the masks. No masks, no fake codes, no time…There are other agencies, he wanted to say. Underground agencies with resources that made IMF’s look miserable. But time was too short, the situation too complicated and they were largely outnumbered. What would have done _Agent_ Brandt, he wondered. His mind raced through the options, the analyst and field man giving tips of their own, and eventually he came to a conclusion.

“Damn it” he said, voice dreadfully resigned as he handed the briefcase back. “We have no choice.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it has been forever since I've updated this, but writer's bloc will to that to you. Anyway, happy new year everyone :)

**When a Hill Joins the Hunt  
**

 

Brandt POV:

 

Brandt stared at Ethan sideways as they walked up to the meeting room with Moreau. Why would the man ask him to play a supporting role like a field agent without taking in account his obvious analyst background? Either he was desperate, either he was very trusting on him keeping his cool. Maybe Brandt had one of those trustworthy, competent faces…

_If only he knew._

On the way down, Brandt kept reviewing every point that could screw this mission up. So many he had to shut down his brain for a while. Panicking and running through all the possible downfalls were not going to help him now.

“Goggles.” He hissed quietly after Ethan knocked. The older man quickly shafted them in his jacket pocket with a grimace. He then couldn't stop himself from wondering aloud "What if they have met..."

But there was no more room for hesitation anymore.

The door opened on a blonde woman standing in the middle of the room. When they entered, Brandt spotted the two men hidden out of sight from the entrance plus the one standing behind the door. Three goons so far. According to statistics, Brandt figured there was no number four. Counting the woman, the odds were two against one. Fair enough, Brandt thought. He had faced worst alone. It had been awhile, but he had faced worst. He could handle this.

He didn’t need to pretend to be nervous and he let Ethan take the initiative, acting like the bureaucrat he was and the expert he was not. Impassible face, tensed and uncomfortable, but self assured enough to do his job.

And then Ethan announced he didn’t have the diamonds on him.

“Kill this one.” Moreau said, nodding towards him.

_Oh fuck._

“We didn’t come alone.” Ethan said calmly, nerves firmly set. Brandt was inches of losing his. Three years out of the field had definitively made a number on his mental. “That hall is a kill box.”

_Stop sweating_ he ordered himself and confirmed that their non-existent reinforcements were indeed the best, considering who they worked for.

Moreau finally caved, pulled out the papers and handed them to him. The advantage of being surrounded by three trained men gave her confidence, Brandt assumed. He went through the pages, the retinal printer doing its job. Or at least he hoped it did. Jane was stalling Wistrom and the true Lisenker so far, but patience lasted that long. Surprisingly, everything went smoothly. Jane handed perfectly duplicated papers, Benji snatched the diamonds under their noses and brought them down on time, Moreau’s satisfied glint when she observed the diamonds before slipping them in her briefcase. What did not turn out expected was Moreau holding back the file and staring at him. Square in the eye.

It barely took him a split of a second to recognize the analytical expression on the French assassin’s face.

_Shit_.

Maria Hill had the same when she wordlessly busted him on the plane.

“Tuez-le!” _(kill him)_

Ethan sprung into action and knocked off the closest goon with a kick to the table. A second hired man jumped onto Brandt, probably thinking him to be an easier prey. Brandt caught the gun, unarmed it and threw a punch. Funny, how old reflexes kick in when you’re back on the front stage. This time, Ethan couldn’t miss that his skills were more adapted to the field than behind a desk. When he was done with his goon, they stood panting, he staring at his job and Ethan staring at him. The suspicion and caution in his eyes nearly made Brandt wince. Yup, he was truly busted this time.

“Find Lisenker.” Ethan merely said before darting out of the room. Brandt followed him soon after and rushed upstairs, cursing himself for being so…himself. He should have known. He should have known the agent part of him wouldn’t, _couldn’t_ stand still. The adrenaline rush had started when the Secretary’s car crashed. Then it had slowly arisen, barely tamed by Ethan’s presence.

Yes, Ethan Hunt was the only think that stopped him from getting fully back. What if he found out? What if…

And when he came around the corner, a gunshot echoed in the whole corridor. Brandt ran to the elevators, cursing himself for not acting quicker. He should have thought of it, that Widstorm would kill Lisenker once he was no longer useful. But when he arrived, the expert was lying on the floor, thankfully alive and panting heavily with blood pooling around him. Brandt rushed to his side, trying to keep his feeling in check not to startle the man. Lisenker barely noticed him until the analyst crouched next to him and tried to touch him.

“Are you all right?” Brandt asked, feeling stupid the next moment: the man was bleeding. He was not all right. Lisenker flinched and tried to crawl back against the wall to escape. When he tumbled on his hand, Brandt saw the blood was actually due to a bullet in the arm. Thankfully, nothing life-threatening.

“What happened?” he asked again, and then he realized Lisenker didn’t actually understand him. Damn, he wasn’t sure the man spoke English and his Polish was overly rusty. “Uh… powiedz mi...co się...stało?"

Lisenker gaped at him –probably realizing he was not the enemy, and started babbling:

“Rodzina…my family. He has…they’re…”

Family hostage, duly noted. And he spoke English. With a heavy accent, but hurray.

“Sir, I need you to calm down.” Brandt said, trying to keep a firm and reassuring tone. But the expert wasn’t done.

“A…a woman. She shot him before he could.” Lisenker babbled. He shakily pointed a point in the corridor. “She was hiding there. My family…my family, he said to release them. And he had a…had a gun and she shot…”

“A woman?” Brandt asked, his mind running a mile through and immediately thinking of one person that hadn’t come with them. “What did she look like?”

“I…” the man looked too shocked to actually pronounce a coherent sentence. “Dark hair. I don’t know! My family…I have to get to my family!”

Brandt took a deep breath and helped the man up. In spite of the urge to run after Wistorm, the civilian was a priority. Lisenker was shaking like a leaf, making it harder to move. They painfully reached the room where Jane and Benji were in hiding. As they approached, a gun fired from their rented room. Lisenker froze. Brandt ignored him and rushed there, opened the door just in time to see Jane kick Moreau out of the open window and fall to her death. The fake analyst lowered his weapon, but the deep feeling of the situation going FUBAR arose again. It confirmed seconds later, when he turned around.

The expert had vanished.

 

* * *

 

Ethan pov

 

Ethan left Brandt behind cursing himself. He should have known. He should have known something wasn’t quite right with the analyst. So called analyst, he corrected himself mentally. Brandt acted all secretive and quiet, as if he wanted to put as much distance between himself and the team as he could. Well that worked, Ethan thought grimly, he hadn’t noticed anything. Had the others picked up something? Or had they been as oblivious as him?

Shoving those thoughts aside, he called Benji and urged him to give him an elevator before Winstorm could flee. The tech tried to tell him something but the communication dropped. He reached the ground level, stepped out of the elevator as if nothing was wrong and looked around. People were everywhere –damn –scattered around the place and…

The sight of a man marching towards a distant corridor caught his attention and Ethan realized Winstorm was hurrying downstairs. The senior agent vaguely wondered why the terrorist would sneak out from the underground instead of going through the front door, but one quick glance at said front door and he recognized the Russian cop heading his way. Ethan smoothly melted in the background and followed his fugitive as quietly as he could.

The henchman disappeared in the basement. The room Ethan caught him sneaking into was quite large, filled with huge cylinders containing dangerous stuff (erosive, polluting liquids, gas and others Ethan didn’t want to know about) and purring machines disturbing his sense of hearing. The light wasn’t quite bright either, which annoyed and reassured him at the same time. In the semi darkness, he could follow his enemy more efficiently, but at the same time, he could lose trace of-

His thoughts were momentarily shut as a fist nearly hit his face. Ethan ducked and was about to respond with a punch of his own when he spotted the gun pointed at him. He quickly hid behind one of the machines and heard sharp thuds hit his temporary shelter. In the reflection of the machine facing him, he caught Winstorm’s silhouette hesitating. Perhaps torn between the urge to flee or finish him off. During that short respite, Ethan pondered over something interesting. It had only been a detail, and perhaps he had been mistaking, but Widstorm’s hand seemed to be hastily bandaged. Had someone injured him leaving the floor? Was that why he avoided the main entrance? Was that what Benji had tried to warn him about?

A couple of bullets flee and hit his hideout way too close for comfort. Ethan regretted bitterly he had left his gun behind. How stupid of him! But for the sake of the exchange, he had to…

“Watch out!”

The unexpected voice made him duck without thinking. A second later, a body fell over him and pinned him down as bullets flew over them. It took Ethan half a second to recognize the smell, fast breathing and body shape.

“Maria?” he said, stunned. Wasn’t she supposed to be in a plane for New York? Indeed, it was the woman who slid off his back and silently hand him a gun.

“There’s only one back door” she informed him before shifting into a more practical shooting position “We can catch him here.”

Winstorm was still out there, hiding behind another machine; Ethan could nearly hear his fast breathing. Suddenly, fast footsteps echoed in the room; their enemy was making a run for it. Both jumped out of their hideout and followed Winstorm.

A sharp and terrified cry made them duck for cover again. Over their new shelter, they caught sight of Winstorm holding a man dressed with the fancy yellow robe of the staff at gunpoint. The two exchanged a wince. Great. The poor fellow must have just been passing by at the wrong moment. Ethan swore inwardly; a nuclear war was at play, yet he couldn’t bring himself to risk an innocent man’s life. On the other side, Maria was there. If they coordinated their moves well enough, perhaps they could do something…

As the thought crossed his head, Maria’s eyes narrowed in concentration and she carefully aimed from an odd angle. Ethan suddenly understood her intention; from where she stood, she could probably hit the terrorist in the hip, or leg. The hit could be a distraction that would let him enough time to shoot Winstorm in the head or something, but that was a really dangerous gamble as the hostage was very well placed.

Suddenly, a silhouette appeared behind Winstorm and knocked him down before pulling the civilian out of harm’s way. The terrorist still managed to shoot at them as the unknown person and the hostage ducked behind a huge cylinder. A muffled groan informed them that a bullet had hit home, quickly followed by a whimper from the former hostage. Another couple of bullet flew Ethan’s way, probably as a last warning and Windstorm was gone. The senior agent and Maria jumped out of their hiding place and ran to assist the wounded. The former hostage looked panicked and lost, and Ethan immediately pushed him towards the exit door. He was surprised though to realize Brandt of all people sitting there, a hand squeezing over a bleeding bicep. Maria ran over to the wounded analyst and helped him stand, careful not to touch his bleeding side.

“Go!” she ordered. “Russians are searching through the building. Go after him, now!”

Ethan spotted the fading silhouette in the background. One last look at Maria and Brandt, insuring they would be all right, and he took off.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit it. I've always been more inspired when exams were around. This is exam time. So of course, I'll be writing and updating :)  
> Enjoy!

 

**When a Hill Joins the Hunt –6**

 

Maria pov:

 

Coming back to the Burj Kalifa had been one of the best decisions she had taken, Maria reflected as she helped the wounded agent stand straight. She didn’t want to feel or sound smug, but without her, her uncle’s team would have been in deep shit. The nuclear specialist was safe –hopefully, Jasper had caught him upstairs and was dragging him back to a safe place before being shipped elsewhere. And although driving Brandt through the corridors unnoticed was tougher than she thought, but she wasn’t a SHIELD agent for nothing, they managed somehow. They had a couple of close calls, nearly spotted by an employee and she had to evade three Russian policemen but at least they made it near to the exit. Suddenly, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She threw an insistent glance at her charge and picked up.

“Tell me you have something” she blurted, squeezing her phone between her shoulder and head to free her hands. Maria carefully dropped Brandt on the staff’s staircase and stepped away to continue her conversation.

_“Fury put Colbat on our hit list, so we’re still looking. The moment we get a hit, you’ll know.”_ Barton informed her. Those weren’t the news she was hoping for, but she felt better knowing SHIELD had an eye on the case now. _“And Fury says ‘stay put’. He needs an inside on Hunt’s team.”_

“Will do.” she said.

_“Before you leave, that guy, Brandt? We’ve sent everything we pulled out on your account. Check your email sometime.”_

“Great. Anything out of the usual?”

_“You said we looked alike. You’re wrong, I’m prettier.”_

Maria rolled her eyes and hung up. When she raised her head, Brandt was there where she left him, staring at her intensely, as if trying to decipher her.

“You are no more bounty hunter than I am an analyst.” He stated. Maria tore a pang of her shirt to make a makeshift bandage over his wound. Brandt let her, but asked anyway: “Who the hell are you?”

She glimpsed quickly at him before focusing on the task at hand again.

“Ethan’s niece.” She replied quietly, working on the injury. When eyes crossed again, she added reluctantly: “I am not the enemy, Brandt, trust me at least on that.”

“Well, it’s not like I have a choice right now.” He pointed out sarcastically. Maria raised an eyebrow.

“I can leave you here if you prefer.” She replied dryly. Brandt’s lips thinned into a line but didn’t protest anymore as they resumed their escape.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Ethan pov:

 

Winstorm was not Winstorm. Winstorm was actually Hendricks. Ethan wanted to bang his head against the wheel of the mini-van he was currently driving. Even wounded and running from him, Hendricks had managed to slip between his fingers and it drove him crazy. The man was fast for a scientist and smart enough to have fooled them all. That fact alone pissed him off.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Ethan asked to distract himself. Maria was in the back, squeezed between what was left of Benji’s equipment, Benji and Brandt, replacing the makeshift bandage she had made on Brandt with a more adequate treatment. Another reason he couldn’t calm down. Maria present among them. Knowing her, she would definitively try to tag along and that was the last thing he wanted. She wasn’t an agent, she was his goddamn _niece_. She might have had some training back when she belonged to the army, but she still had nothing to do on the field by his side. Speaking of which…the senior agent reported momentarily his attention on the analyst. As Maria did her work, Brandt winced from time to time but didn’t hiss nor moaned his pain. Either he was built for resisting to the pain, or he didn’t want to sound weak in front of them, Ethan reflected.

“I have some info on Hendricks but didn’t want to tell you over the phone. But I doubt I’m bringing anything new.” She replied dryly, applying a light bandage over the wound. “From what I gathered, that guy is persuaded that a nuclear war wiping out the human race will make the planet better. He stole nuclear codes in the Kremlin bombing, blaming the explosion on you guys on the way, and was looking for nuclear codes. Since I doubt he had direct access, he must have paid someone to get them and you were _en route_ to intercept the documents. Now that he’d escape, he must be looking for a satellite to launch the codes. I’d bet he’d had bought an old one yet still functioning, from someone with deep pockets.”

“That was quick” Brandt muttered. Maria shot him a glare. Hunt glanced at her through the back mirror; the wounded agent did have a point.

“How did you get so much information in such little time?”

“A couple of calls and intuition.” Maria shrugged. “And it’s not hard to guess what a mad scientist will do after…” she stopped mid-sentence, touched the done work lightly and hummed contently. “It’s all good.” 

Brandt nodded his thanks and rested against the side of the van. Deep circles formed under his eyes, making him look exhausted. The blood loss and adrenaline were wearing off. Tension was palpable in the car, everyone simmering their frustration on their side. They were all eager to reach the safe house to finally explode. Ethan was just tired. He went to the bathroom straight to refresh himself. In the other room, voices elevated, free to express themselves.

_“And whose fault was it, that the expert ran away?”_ Jane barked.

_“If I hadn’t been distracted by you throwing away an asset through the window then maybe I could have taken better care of Lisenker!”_ Brandt retorted on the same angry tone. He didn’t sound like a cornered puppy anymore.

_“So you are blaming this on me? It was a reflex in self-defense!”_

_“And the window just happened to be open?”_

The phone rang. Ethan grabbed it.

“Tell me you have good news.”

His backup plan was in motion and now he needed to meet the contact. Maria’s words came back to him; Hendricks would now be searching for an unused satellite. All he needed was to find someone rich and bored enough to sell one. He agreed with those assumptions but that wasn’t intel he could find by asking anyone. Bogdan would be useful on that one. Hopefully.

In the background, Jane snapped. _“We inherited you! You are just a bureaucrat! You know nothing about field work.”_

Nothing about field work? Ethan recalled a room with three armed men. He recalled beating the shit out of two of them and the third being busted by Brandt. The third man who had a gun pointed at the analyst, and said analyst disarming the weapon like a pro. Then down at the basement, he remembered a man acting fast, taking a bullet willingly to protect a civilian. A man who didn’t whine being patched up, a man with haunted eyes. At first, Ethan had thought that look was due to witnessing the Secretary’s murder. Someone who had never met death before always showed a strong reaction. Yet, now that he thought of it, Brandt wasn’t upset for long. While being annoying with his scholar analysis of their situation, he had behaved like a trained agent.

Jane was wrong; Brandt definitively knew something about field work.

_“You’re in charge of communication! You should have stopped them from finding them!”_

Jane was now lashing out on Benji it seemed. Ethan took a deep breath, ready to go to fish things on his own. Leaving the team -or the joke of a team- behind left a bittersweet taste in his mouth. They had failed to work together, and now they were paying the price by losing codes that had the potential of destroying the world. When he entered the room, he found them more or less how he expected: Jane was leaning over Benji’s closed laptop. Benji looked embarrassed, maybe even scared. Maria was back against the farthest wall, checking her cell phone and oblivious to the mess around her. Ethan would have laughed at her disinterest if he wasn’t so angry.

“You’re not allowed these mistakes anymore, Benji, you’re a field agent now.”

And Brandt was sitting in a chair, teaming up with Jane against the tech. The words he pronounced made the older agent’s his blood boil. Who was he to criticize his teammate when he was hiding his own skills! If he had told them up front, perhaps the mission would have gone differently. Perhaps Hendricks would be locked by now, perhaps the codes…

“And you’re just an _analyst_!”

Ethan’s sudden burst of anger surprised everyone in the room and all eyes turned on him. Jane stood speechless, Benji worried, Maria raised her eyes from her screen with mild interest and Brandt, William whatever-his-middle-name-was Brandt, playing the innocent guy. It just made him angrier.

“You disarm a man pointing a gun at you in the face. You break him without a sweat. You make a call and save a civilian swifter than most field agents out there. Who are you really, Brandt?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Brandt pov:

 

For a brief second, Brandt panicked. Ethan was forthcoming, not taking his bullshit anymore. He glanced at Maria; still leaning against the wall like a perfect shadow would, quiet and unnoticed. In spite of her fingers playing with her cell phone, she was observing everything very closely, quietly. No-one paid attention to her as the spotlights were on him; no one had paid attention to her from the beginning. For a brief second, their gaze met and he read an uncanny worry in her eyes. It was almost like she feared he would call on her, pinpoint that she had behaved oddly for an ordinary bounty. Good shot, cool-headed and quiet and stealth and then that last phone call he had overheard? Brandt could divert the attention; put her in the uneasy position.

But she had protected Lisenker, saved his ass down there by dragging him through the corridors of the Burj Khalifa unnoticed and done nothing that could point that she was working against them. Plus, she had not denounced him either when she clearly had her doubts. So he decided to trust his guts and trust her, broke their eye contact and turned back towards Ethan instead.

“What are you asking?” he asked in a last, desperate attempt to bluff.

The agent huffed in disdain, nearly disbelief.

“What am I asking?” Ethan turned away, faced the wall. Brandt never saw the next move coming, although he should have expected. “Let me put it in a different way.”

In a glimpse of a second, Brandt was facing the barrel of a gun. Instincts jumped back into motion and before he could even think of it, he snapped the weapon out of Ethan’s hands. Ethan pulled him up, grabbed the gun he had tucked in his back and with the same quickness and expertise, Brandt stole the gun back and aimed.

One click later and he vaguely spotted Jane drawing a weapon on him too, all under Benji’s wide opened eyes. Ethan stood still before him, unblinking.

“How does an agent with skills like yours end up an analyst?”

Brandt unloaded the gun, letting the ammo fall on the ground with a loud ‘bang’. Jane lowered her weapon as he handed his to the team leader. 

“Well, we all have our secrets” he quickly glanced at Maria again, who hadn’t moved from her spot the whole time. Unlike Benji though, her expression was blank and unsurprised. “Don’t we, Ethan?”

“You tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.” The agent replied, and Brandt was momentarily brought back to the plane trip. Exchanged glances with Maria, a quiet warning in the line of her brows. It stunned him to realize how fast she had worked out his true background and how slow Ethan had been to figure it out.

“Care to explain yourself _agent_ Brandt?” Jane hissed bitterly. Brandt turned around and leaned his good arm on the staircase for support. He couldn’t face them now; he had to compose himself first. The whole time, he felt the unwavering stare of Maria Hill on his back.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, I know and I'm sorry (that little thing called college, y'know ^^") . I'll try to upate faster next time.  
> Please enjoy :)

**When a Hill joins the Hunt -6**

 

Brandt pov:

 

“I wonder the whole time, what should I so? Should I tell him? That I’m responsible?”

The tale was out. He had confessed that one sad mistake. He didn’t feel that much relieved yet, probably because the main character of his story had stormed out earlier without giving him the chance to explain. The pity in the two other IMF agents’ eyes was unnerving though. It wasn’t their forgiveness he was seeking for. A quick glance on his left informed him that Hill had remained in her corner. The blank face and lack of surprise intrigued and annoyed him all the same.

“Did you know?” He asked, figuring she wouldn’t lie now.

“When you left me at the airport, I did a background check.” Maria simply replied. “Called in a few favors. I wanted to know who my uncle was working with.”

_C’mon_ , Brandt thought, watching the two other agents’ reaction from the corner of the eye. _Don’t you think there is something odd about her? Where does she pull out so much information effortlessly?_ Jane and Benji stared at her with hanging jaws.

“So you kept it quiet? Even though you knew he was deceiving us?”

Brandt wanted to groan. They were questioning why she held back information, not _where_ she had learned it. This team was driving him crazy by never asking the right questions.

“Brandt was no threat to you.” Maria pointed out. “And people have their secrets. I’m not one to judge.”

_Because you carry a lot of secrets too_ , Brandt’s stare added mentally. She caught his gaze again and held his stare, daring him to push the issue further.

“Your stitches are bleeding.” Jane suddenly spoke up. All three looked at the wound on Brandt’s arm. Strains or red were tainting the fabric. Maria didn’t hesitate:

“Go to the bathroom, I’ll clean them.”

He rose from his seat reluctantly and obeyed. The bathrooms were in the next room, closed by a halfway decent door. Not thick enough to cover an exchange, but reliable enough to cover a hushed conversation.

“You’re no more bounty hunter than I am an analyst.” He repeated his previous statement once the door was closed.

“Pull off your shirt.” She ordered as she pulled out the first help kit. Brandt sighed and reluctantly obeyed. His hand froze mid-movement when the wound reminded its existence with a harsh pain. He tried to hide the wince but given Maria’s expression, greatly failed.

“Look at me” she ordered. He obeyed. “Don’t move. I’m going to take off your shirt then the undershirt myself. It’ll be less painful for you.” She explained when she reached out for the fabric.

Maria unbuttoned him carefully. Brandt did his best to control his reactions, from the nearness of her body to the scent of her. He would be stupid to deny she was a beautiful woman, even stupider to pretend not being attracted to her. But as she pulled up his undershirt, warm fingers brushing his skin, the man clenched his jaw tightly. She was too close for comfort, eyes narrowed in concentration and biting her lower lip. The agent forced himself to think of something off-turning.

“Does it hurt that much?”

“Uh?”

“You are wincing. Does your wound hurt that much?”

“It’s fine.” His voice sounded hoarse and edgy at the same time a little too high-pitched. She gave him a suspicious side-look but didn’t comment further. Brandt had a feeling she’d kill him if she suspected what kind of thoughts ran through his mind.

Once he was bare-chested, Maria made him sit on the only chair, front to the backrest. She started undoing the previous bandage she had made, now soaked in red.

“When did you start doubting me?” she suddenly asked as she put aside the soiled fabric.

“From the first moment we met.” Brandt replied honestly. “The way you behaved. I don’t know why, I expected you to be from a military background, or something similar. When you said bounty hunter, I thought something fishy was up.”

Hill’s hand paused over his wound and he saw her raising an eyebrow in the mirror.

“Really?” she asked skeptically. “People usually find it hard to buy the bounty hunter thing, but don’t expect a similar background.”

“They see a pretty face.” Brandt acknowledged, and added quickly before she could comment on the ‘pretty’: “Not the potential agent.”

“So I’m an agent now?”

She dipped a clean towel in disinfectant and pressed it a little too hard on his wound. The man hissed in pain and glared at her over his shoulder. She returned a perfectly unapologetic face.

“Not many military people pretend to be something else. Hiding their true job, staying in good shape, handling weapons…” He explained. “What gave out I wasn’t an analyst?”

Maria gave him a nonchalant shrug and the pressure lessened.

“You have too much muscle and are too fit to be sitting behind a desk all day.” Brandt raised a surprised eyebrow at that. She reluctantly admitted: “I wasn’t sure until I pulled out your file.”

His eyebrows raised a notch in surprise.

“Was I _that_ suspicious?”

“You are the doppelganger of a colleague of mine. I wanted to make sure you weren’t related to him.”

“The dopple…why? Would that be embarrassing?”

A smirk grew on the woman’s face.

“If that guy had a lost twin brother, things would definitively be more interesting.”

“I have a feeling this isn’t a compliment” he replied good-naturally before sobering. “You must be pretty high in the hierarchy if you have the security clearance to check my background.”

“I asked a favor from a friend.”

“That’s easily debatable. Unless your ‘ _friend’_ has a high security clearance.”

“Are you going to question and criticize all my answers, agent Brandt?” Jane had spitted the title. Maria was stating it, like a reminder of whom he used to be; or who he was. Brandt couldn’t bite back a small smile.

“Tell me your secret, I’ll tell you mine.” He said, throwing back her earlier words at her. It was hard to believe barely a full day had gone by. Maria breathed in sharply and her hand paused over the bandage.

“Fair enough. You’re right; I work for an underground organization. Since you are Chief Analyst, you might have heard of SHIELD.”

Brandt blinked and stared at her incredulously.

“You work for _them_? Shit, no wonder why you never blink.”

“I’ll take that as an off-handed compliment.” Maria replied dryly. “Turn around. Do you know about them?”

Brandt shifted back to face the mirror. He felt the woman’s fingers gently run over the wound as she redid the bandage.

“Not much” he admitted. “IMF and SHIELD worked a couple of high-risk missions together in the past. I needed a reference for a file back then and read their name. At best, I can say they are more military-like than IMF, and they tackle really, really odd cases. But that’s all I know; you are pretty hush-hush and hard to trace” He paused, raised an eyebrow. “Did you guys really finance a research for Captain America?”

Maria smirked.

“SHIELD cooperated, but we weren’t at the initiative.”

“So that guy really existed? He wasn’t just a comic hero?”

“Why, are you a fan?”

“Do you always answer a question with a question?”

Maria chuckled and tapped gently the bandage. “You’re all sewed up. Now put something clean on and be careful. We don’t want you bleeding out there.” 

Brandt reached for a blue shirt he had packed up with him. As he slipped on his clothe, he wondered if she would come over to help him again. She didn’t. He couldn’t tell whether he was relieved or disappointed.

“You still didn’t answer my last question.” He pointed out. Maria smirked.

“Take a hint, Brandt.”

“You can call me Will.”

“And you can call me Hill. Ethan will kill you if he thinks you’re hitting on me.”

Brandt didn’t know whether he wanted to blush or roll his eyes.

“Why, calling your first name would be flirting now?”

“In his book where I am concerned, yes it is.”

“Ah.” He said flatly. “Overprotective much?”

“He took me in when I turned ten. I spent my teenage years with him before joining the Air Force.” Maria closed the first kit aid and stared absentmindedly at the wall. Unspoken words were left hanging and he didn’t pursue the inquisition. A small part of him rejoiced at the fact he had been right when he had thought ‘military’ background.

“Does he know?” the ‘for SHIELD’ went unspoken.

“I assume he suspects something. But I’d rather he stays oblivious.” She replied quietly. “It makes things easier that way.”

Brandt snorted.

“You people love living surrounded by secrets, don’t you?”

“Sometimes you don’t have a choice.” She replied harsher. “Don’t tell me you don’t lie to your family about your profession?” Brandt didn’t answer, not wanting to reply that the only family he had left –a younger sister in New York- wouldn’t cry over his dead body, but he got her point. Maria sighed and turned around. “I chose this life, so did Ethan, do did you. It includes a lot of lies, yeah, but it comes with the job. It won’t change anything, whether Ethan knows or not. I just want to keep that card close, just in case.”

“In case you have to use it against IMF?”

“I would never steal confidential documents from my uncle!” Maria snapped anger plain clear in her tone. “You have no idea what kind of threats we deal with. I want him oblivious so in case something happens to me, he won’t be dragged into this mess.” She took a step closer, making her stand in his comfort zone. “Stop insinuating I’m working against you. So far I’ve done everything to give you a hand.”

She did have a point.

“Sorry.” He apologized. “Kind of stressed right now.”

“Fine. By the way, Lisenker made it safe to his family. There are off to the US as we speak.” Was that what she was checking on her cell phone earlier?

“You are definitively high in the hierarchy.” He said deadpan. “I don’t know how high, but I’ll find out one day.”

Surprisingly, Maria smirked, amused, but didn’t reply to his light taunting. She washed her hands in the sink and put the first aid kit back in place.

“You should tell him.” She suddenly said. When Brandt stared at her in puzzlement, she added: “Ethan. About Croatia. Trust my word when I say he won’t hate you.” The corner of her lips tilted up. “Believe it or not, you are pretty much likable once one gets to know you a bit better.” She surprised him by tapping his cheek lightly with two fingers. Brandt felt his ears flush red. “No get some rest. I know my uncle and I bet you he’ll be calling to request for backup. He’s a good agent, but even he can’t finish this mission alone.”

“Isn’t SHIELD going to intervene?”

Maria shrugged.

“They will if I call them. I’m giving Ethan a four hours delay. If he doesn’t call us then, the mission is out of IMF’s hands and I’ll make it a SHIELD matter.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters left! Sorry, if I work this well, this story should we wrapped up by the end of the week...and soooooorry for the delay ^^"  
> Unbetaed work, so all mistakes are mine..

**When a Hill joins the Hunt –7**

Ethan pov:

 

Shortly after Ethan had made his deal with Bogdan’s cousin, he had called upon the rest of the team. The arms’ dealer had been right, he couldn’t do this alone and like it or not, he couldn’t refuse the support they could bring. But when the car arrived, he realized he had completely forgotten about the extra passenger _who wasn’t supposed to still be there!_

“Maria, seriously?” he blurted when he spotted Maria getting out of the car. She gave him a flat stare.

“I don’t have a heavy schedule and you guys will probably need an extra set of hands. So, you called?”

Ethan shook his head in exasperation then turned towards the others. He didn’t have the energy nor the time nor the patience to deal with her now.

“I know what we need to do, but if we want to accomplish anything, we need to work together, as a _team_.” He started, eyeing each and every member left. Jane and Benji looked determined, but Brandt still hesitating to cross his eyes. Maria was giving the agent-turned-analyst her ‘warning’ glance, and Ethan briefly wondered what had occurred between them during his absence.

Finally, Brandt opened his mouth to speak but Ethan decided he didn’t need to hear excuses.

“We’ll talk about this later,” he told the man, and Brandt closed his mouth and nodded submissively. In the background, Maria rolled her eyes. An uneasy glance was exchanged between the two other agents, but they headed straight to board without commenting. Ethan sighed inwardly, thinking they really needed to learn how to set their priorities straight.

“Nice jet.” Benji commented when he stepped in. And Ethan couldn’t help but smirk:

“Wait till you see the car.”

 

* * *

 

 

The ride on the plane was quiet enough, with on the one side Jane wondering about her succeeding in seducing Brij Nath and the other Maria, Brandt and Benji plotting their way in. Ethan decided to check on Jane first. True to his hunch, she wasn’t doing well. Killing Moreau, in spite being her deepest desire since Hanaway’s death, had unsettled her confidence and she doubted herself.

“Your niece would be a better fit.” Jane said after a while. “She’s smart and she doesn’t have heartache to distract her.”

“But she doesn’t give out the ‘seductive vibe’.” Ethan pointed out with a semblance of a smirk, and Jane seemed to reluctantly agree. “She quit the army because she couldn’t listen to orders and she’s not an agent, so I don't quite trust her to stick to the plan either.”

Jane raised an eyebrow.

“She isn’t that hopeless, you know? Actually I thought she reacted exactly like an agent should when she shot at Hendricks, and she got Brandt out without catching attenion. If she’s bounty hunter, she must know what she’s getting into.”

“It’s one thing to be adaptable.” Ethan replied tersely. “But she went in alone against a terrorist. I know she only tackles low-risk profiles alone, and bigger targets are done with partners. She’s good but I’m not sure she could have handled this. Back to our subject” he added. “We went through the roles. Benji takes care of the satellite. Brandt and Maria deal with entering the satellite’s and you…”

“Get those codes from Brij Nath.” Jane repeated tiredly, but this time, she was smiling weakly.

“And I have your back.” Ethan concluded with conviction.

Further down the plane, Brandt, Maria and Benji were gathered around a map while the tech made a demonstration of his floating armor. Since Brandt was injured, Maria had volunteered for the muscle part. And she did not like what she heard.

“Wait a second” Maria interrupted the tech as he was still babbling about his plan. “I think you overlooked a little detail here.” Benji stiffened, wondering what the problem was. “It’s a twenty-five drop, right over a fan, and I just jump?”

“And I catch you.”

“And you catch me” she repeated skeptically. “With magnets?”

“Yes I do,” Benji replied as calmly as he could muster. He was getting impatient and annoyed with her hostile behavior, but didn’t have the guts to actually show it. Two reasons: crazy-minded Ethan’s niece and…well, _crazy_ - _minded_ Ethan’s _niece_. “It’s not that hard to understand, is it?”

“If I were making that jump, I’d be a little more than concerned” Brandt piped in, eyes frowned worryingly. Benji nearly rolled his eyes; the guy sounded like _he_ would be the one doing the mission. “The gloves you gave Ethan didn’t hold on long.”

“That was technology. This is pure rocket science.” The tech said, as if it made the whole difference. “I’d be more concerned about the heat.”

Both Maria and Brandt blurted: “What heat?”

“It’s a huge computer” the Englishman explained. “If you cut the fan, it’s gonna be really hot down there.”

“So to summarize the whole thing” Maria said; “I am jumping with a magnet suit in an oven.”

“Yeah, like Hansel and Gretel. Well, you’ll be Gretel jumping in the oven but…”

“Who’s jumping in an oven?” Ethan asked, suddenly appearing by their side. Brandt and Hill shared an amused smile. Benji groaned. This was going to be a long flight.

 

* * *

 

_Maria pov:_

 

“Test, test, do you copy?”

Ethan and Jane entered the palace through the front door. Maria and Brandt had followed soon after, more discreetly, and directly headed to the machine rooms. They had passed the guards without too much trouble in spite of Brandt carrying the light briefcase that contained her armor. After a useless fight with Ethan about the probability of Brandt and him switching places so she wouldn’t need to take the jump –which ended as well as expected –Maria had finally gotten through his thick head that she was perfectly capable of playing her part without being supervised.

_"Compy Pluto."_

Brandt had volunteered to tag along with her just to keep an eye on her. In spite of their conversation back in the safe house, she knew he didn’t quite trust her yet. It would have been more practical if Jane had been in charge of entering the codes in the system, but as her uncle had pointed out, she didn’t give the ‘Venus’ vibe very well...And Jane had the exotic kind of beauty. Although she knew Romanoff would have a kick watching her attempt to seduce someone…Now _that_ would be some kind of disaster. She could easily play the candy-eye, and she had done it before, but actually starting a conversation? She couldn’t even mention something that didn’t concern work with Will, how was she supposed to-

Maria paused in her thoughts. What the hell was that last thought? Why would she be concerned about her small talks with Barton’s double?

“This whole mission is driving me crazy.” She muttered to herself.

_“Pluto is not even a planet, but you still have to get used to our solar system, sorry.”_ Benji chipped in. Maria narrowed her eyes, although no-one but Brandt would see it. Was the tech criticizing her momentary need to complain?

“Ur _anus_ suits you so well.” she mumbled darkly.

_“Funny, you said anus.”_ Long pause. _“I got it, I’m an ass.”_

“Congratulations, you must be a genius.”

_“Stop the flirting and concentrate please._ ” Ethan mumbled, but she could hear the amusement in his voice. “ _How is it going? Are you in position?”_

While Brandt opened the door, Maria slipped the armor over her evening dress. She then walked closer to the gap and glanced down.

“Okay, I’m ready” Maria said, staring worryingly at the drop she had to make. She wasn’t scared of heights –living on the Helicarrier forced that out of her –but it was still a big leap of faith –no pun intended- she was taking here. The fans stopped spinning and she took a sharp inhale, knowing her turn was coming up.

_“It’s going to be fine Pluto”_ Ethan assured. “ _If anything goes wrong I’ll beat up Uranus in your memory.”_

“That makes me feel so much better” Maria snorted as she sat down on the edge of the door. “Make sure you cut each and every digit first and feed them to him first.”

_“Duly noted.”_

_“You guys realize I can hear you?”_ Benji piped in nervously.

“I’m the one jumping and _you_ sound nervous?” Mari snapped.

_“Well I really don’t want to be on Ethan’s bad end…”_

_“Don’t dig your grave deeper Benji.”_ The older man cut in. _“Where is the drone?”_

_“In position. Whenever you’re ready Pluto.”_

She swung once, twice, but didn’t take the jump. As a SHIELD agent she had done worst before, but not without a harness to bring her back up or with an immobilized fan at the end of the drop. If she missed, this was going to hurt like a bitch.

“Need a push?” Brandt offered when she hesitated again.

“Touch me and die.” Maria replied threateningly. The man raised his hands defensively and stepped back. The woman took a few breaths in and out and muttered: “Do I really need to do this?”

_“Pluto…”_ Ethan started warily. _“Now is not the time to back off.”_

“I’m not backing off!” she protested, looked at the pit down there. She took a deep breath and…

A sudden, loud yelp echoed through the coms. Brandt winced, Jane nearly broke her target’s fingers, Benji prayed every deity that the thing had worked and Ethan…Ethan worried when nothing came. No sound, no curse, no heavy breathing. Nothing.

_“Status report!_ ” Ethan hissed, getting more and more worried. He knew better than anyone that one tiny mistake could cost the life of an agent, but this wasn’t any agent, this was Maria, his goddamn niece, his blood family, the kid he halfway raised and the one person who put up with his shit no matter what because even when she didn’t understand his reasoning, she never questioned him and followed his lead trustfully. If Benji’s tech had failed them, no place on _earth_ would be safe for the Englishman.

And three terrifying seconds later…

_“WILLIAM FRANKLIN BRANDT!”_ Maria screamed angrily. _“YOU’RE A DEAD MAN WALKING!”_

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue will be posted in an hour or so. :)  
> All mistakes are mine

**When a Hill joins the Hunt -8**

 

Maria pov:

 

“I didn’t do anything!” Brandt protested. “I only brushed your shoulder!”

“You startled me and I fell!” Maria retorted strongly, still trying to get a hold on her breathing pattern. It was a good thing she had fallen at the right place too. She wasn’t sure how the whole magnets functioned but had she gone a little too far on the right, she would have met her end.

_“Keep it for the honeymoon.”_ Ethan cut dryly, but she could hear the obvious relief in his voice. _“When did his team start a bickering contest?”_

_You’re welcome to listen to Barton and Romanoff banter on a mission anytime_ , Maria thought sarcastically. Her heartbeat was still higher than she would have liked, but at least her mind was clearer. “Okay, I’m ready. Lead the way.”

Floating in the air was an odd experience. She had to keep her body in the superman posture, slowly moving forwards in tunnels of machinery. As Benji had predicted, the environment had become quite warm and her armor wasn’t helping in cooling the heat.

“You okay down there?” she heard Brandt ask her.

“I’m in Wonderland,” she replied dryly, observing the mechanism of it all.

Seriously, couldn’t they have just rang the fire alarm to evacuate the guests and destroy the underground with a small bomb? It wasn’t like Brij Nath couldn’t afford to rebuild a palace or something. If the satellite coordinates were messed up, then all they needed to do next would be to head towards the closest place likely to contact a nuclear submarine and wait for Hendricks to appear. But noooooo, Ethan had to do it the hard way, and it wasn’t like she could change his mind. He would consider her plan half a minute then brush it off because of her so called mercenary background. Sometimes she wished she could tell him she was the freaking Deputy Director of one of the most powerful underground organization in the world. And she remembered right away exactly why she _couldn’t_ tell him. The necessary secrecy. And she didn’t trust him to keep his hands out of her business. Being a mercenary was one thing, but having a heck more power than the US president himself was a whole other matter.

She finally arrived at the right panel and pulled out the metal plate that covered the cards. She switched the right one with their own and waited for the code.

In the meantime, she wondered what on earth had pushed her to admit her allegiance to Brandt. They had an unspoken agreement and both had filled their parts, but was revealing her belonging to SHIELD worth it?

The machines underneath suddenly came to life and Maria cursed.

“What’s going on?”

_“We’re losing control over the satellite,”_ Benji replied.

_“It’s Hendricks,_ ” Ethan said, and she could picture the annoyed frown on his face. “ _Jane, we need those codes_ now _!_ ”

Carter obeyed and a series of numbers and letters were sputtered in her earpiece. Maria entered it, but as she already suspected, it was too late. Benji confirmed but located Hendricks in a telecommunication broadcast center. Of course, it went without saying they would meet there, Ethan and Jane taking some advance. Now all Maria had to do was get out.

Except that with the machines back on, her exit road was slightly more complicated than anticipated.

“Anything you can do Dunn?” she called through her earpiece. That little thing worked at least. The tech replied the negative and Maria wanted to strangle him. Perhaps she hadn’t been out of the field for a long time, but she was rather certain at least SHIELD equipment and technicians worked _better_ than that. With a huff, she pushed her way back to the fan, which of course was in full action now, and spared half a second to think of an exit. She heard her name being called and glanced up; Brandt was peeking down from the door, looked panicked and useless and…holding a rope? Maybe not that useless after all. He had tied something heavy at the edge so it would stay still and threw it down. Maria caught it and began climbing her way out. The wind of the fan pushed her upwards and she caught his extended hand to help her reach the last step.

Of course, Maria had to trip walking through the door and ended up sprawled over him. Panting heavily from the recent adrenaline rush, Maria didn’t give a damn when she dropped her head on Brandt’s chest. She did however felt his body stiffen, his heartbeat double. Odd, she thought, since he wasn’t the one who had just made a twenty something fall into a computer and back up. Then she realized something hard was pressing against her thigh. Her eyes open wide and she shot him a ‘seriously?’ look. Brandt’s face flushed, and he looked like he wanted to crawl in a mouse hole. Maria rolled her eyes and stood up.

“We’ve got some place to be.” She muttered, taking off her armor quickly. Brandt consciously avoided looking in her direction and so did she. “Dunn, what’s your position?”

_“Near the rendezvous point.”_

“Get ready, we’ll be here in a minute.”

Maria discarded the armor and threw it to Brandt so he could fold it back in the briefcase and pulled out her cell phone. No messages, no phone calls, no emails, no reception…no screen. Fried.

“Awesome” she grumbled and harshly jammed her now useless phone in her small handbag.

“Got a problem?” Brandt asked, ears still red from embarrassment.

“Doesn’t matter.” She snapped and headed to the exit door. She couldn’t hope joining SHIELD with another device and didn’t want to borrow a phone from the IMF team. Brandt already knew she was hiding her real-time job, he didn’t need Coulson’s direct numb-

Oh what the hell.

“You have a cell phone?”

“Sorry. Why? You were planning to call SHIELD?”

“Guess it’s a bit too late for that,” she mumbled and walked out of the room. Yeah, she thought, bombs would have been _way_ more practical.

 

* * *

 

 

Ethan pov

 

_“The missile was launched. We’re too late.”_

Ethan cursed his bad luck and timing. He thought he could have stopped this, he had truly believed his team could have put an end to this. But now he had failed and they were at the dawn of a nuclear war.

“ _Ethan_ ” Maria suddenly spoke up very calmly. _“Go to the center now.”_

The man’s foot pressed on the accelerator without question and caused a few passersby to jump. Jane nearly squealed in surprise.

_“We still might be able to do something”_ Maria went on. _“If we can’t stop the missile from being launched, we can disarm it.”_

“Then we need access to Hendrick’s briefcase, the control has to be there.” Ethan completed and took a sharp right, determination now overwriting his brief discouragement. “Get to the telecommunication station ASAP.”

_“Way ahead of you, uncle.”_ She replied as two high-pitched sounds echoed in the background.

_“Y’a crazy!”_ –was that Benji? – _“You’re going to get us all bloody killed!”_

_“Watch out for the lamppost!” t_ hat was Brandt. “ _And DOG! DOG!! DOOOOG!!!”_

Ethan tuned out his colleague’s voices as he rode through the city way faster than he should, using Jane as his GPS. They arrived just in time to see Hendricks and Wistorm exiting the building.

“Go after Wistorm!” he ordered and Jane obeyed. He sprinted after Hendricks, Maria’s words echoing in his mind. She thought they could still stop this too. She thought they needed to fight till the end. For the umpteenth time, he marveled at how similarly they thought and it comforted him. She really wasn’t his niece for nothing.

Now all he needed to do was catch that mad scientist and put an end to a potential nuclear war.

 

* * *

 

 

Brandt pov

 

Maria parked with car’s wheels squealing in protest and walked out of the vehicle, quickly followed by a babbling Benji and a pale Brandt. He never suspected her to have such _particular_ driving skills –not unlike Ethan, truthfully –but even though his stomach grimaced and the tech looked like he’d never step in a vehicle driven by a Hill or a Hunt again, he was grateful for her quickness. The three barged into the telecommunication center, only to find Jane aiming at nothing and a disgruntled expression on her face. She had changed into more regular clothing. Maria still had her evening gown.

“Wistorm went that way,” she muttered, and Brandt spotted the wince in her voice and the hand over her abdomen. The power went out. Unsurprisingly, Maria immediately took command.

“Dunn, can you repair that thing?” she pointed at the machine with too many wires and Benji nodded hesitantly. “Carter, you stay here and cover him. Brandt and I will put the power back on.” She spoke like she didn’t expect opposition.

“Ethan will kill us if anything happens to you.” Benji felt complied to mention.

“If we don’t stop this, Ethan will be the least of your worries.” Maria snapped and threw him a glare. Benji squeaked and Jane gave her a measured look. Without another word, Hill pulled out the gun from somewhere and took off after Wistorm. Brandt gave his colleagues a shrug and followed her. He didn’t understand how she could still move so quietly with those high heels. The dress must have been quite uncomfortable and yet she had ignored Benji or his offer to drive and slipped behind the wheel and taken off before they had even been comfortably seated. And the way she had just spoken...Brandt had no doubt she was a leader. He briefly wondered why she hadn’t taken off after Ethan right away, and realized that she probably had no idea where he had gone and had no way to track him.

Well, that must be awfully annoying. Not that he was complaining about her presence; Maria looked hot in that dress and he had had a hard time –no pun intended –to keep himself from checking her out instead of focusing on the mission.

“Check the left, I’ll check the right.” She ordered without sparing a glance at him. Power box. Right.

He sneaked in the closest room and opened the door wide, ready to fire. Nothing. He entered, saw the power box and relaxed slightly: he had found it. And then Wistorm walked from behind the door and punched him.

“Fuck!” he swore, hoping the noise would attract Maria.

For a full precious minute, he tried to knock Wistorm out. But the man was as strong and had time on his side and the few attempts to approach the power box failed so badly Brandt was getting desperate.

And all of a sudden the lights turned back on and both men stopped struggling. When they turned around, they saw a woman waving at them with a smirk, her hand on the lever. Wistorm growled a ‘no’ and shoved Brandt away, his entire focus now on Maria. The IMF analyst soon figured he didn’t need to worry about her self-defense; she easily dodged Wistorm’s charge, caught his shirt, twisted him around and forced his head down against a piece of metal. The plaque bent under the shock and Wistorm passed out.

“Have any rope?” she asked casually, although a little out of breath. Brandt groaned and fell back against the closest wall.

“There must be wires around here” he replied, waving around the room. Without missing a beat, Maria picked up something that would do and tied the unconscious man’s hands in his back. “Thank you.”

She smiled slightly at him, and his heart skipped a beat again.

“You’re welcome.”

 

Later, a hospital in Mumbai

 

Ethan and Jane had been admitted rather quickly –being friends with the right people paid off quite well- and now all they had to do was waiting. The Ghost Protocol would be revoked soon enough and Brandt had already given his statement. He took off, abandoning Benji with a laptop, and went in search of Maria. He found her sitting on a bench in Ethan’s corridor, talking to his temporary doctor. Soon after he arrived, she thanked the medic and walked towards him.

He immediately noted the bags under her eyes and how put off she looked. Then he remembered she had been up for at least 36 hours straight.

“Can I get you some coffee?” he asked quietly. “You look tired.”

Maria raised an eyebrow.

“You are no better.” She replied dryly, and he remembered that he had had little sleep too. “I got a phone call five minutes ago, someone’s picking me up in two. I don’t even have the time to say goodbye to Ethan.”

“Maybe another time…” he mumbled before asked: “Is it a… _situation_?”

He didn’t want to mention SHIELD in the middle of a hospital, where unwanted ears could be eavesdropping. She nodded.

“And I was supposed to be on holiday.” She complained, but headed towards the exit anyway.

“Can I get down with you or is whoever’s picking you up identity a secret?”

Maria hesitated, glanced at him, then smirked.

“Actually…come with me.”

Brandt followed docilely. They didn’t come across IMF agents or anyone from the Russian police and reached the front door quickly. A black car was waiting in the parking lot, close to the exit. The door opened and Maria motioned to him to take a peek inside. Brandt did. And gawked. His perfect reflection was staring back at him.

“Holy shit Maria, give the man a warning!” the guy inside blurted, and Brandt shivered at the similarity in their voices. “Hi, I’m Clint. You must be the doppelganger.”

The IMF analyst stared at Maria, who was deliberately ignoring the conversation, pretending to be focused on her cell phone.

“William Brandt,” he introduced himself reluctantly, still caught off guard by the resemblance. “I suppose you are Maria’s colleague?”

“She’s my boss actually,” ‘Clint’ replied cheerfully. “And she’s got a 0-8-4 to take care of if she deigned climb into the fucking car.”

“What’s a 0-8-4?”

“Classified.” Maria replied blankly, and gently pushed Brandt aside. “I’ve got to go now. Tell Ethan I’ll call.”

Brandt nodded without tearing his eyes off his carbon copy.

“And tell him about Croatia.” She added with a hint of a smile. “I promise he won’t eat you.” She hesitated, then said: “It was a pleasure working with you.”

“Likewise.”

The door snapped shut and the car started. Brandt watched the vehicle until it left his sight and returned to the hospital.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end...thank you for reading :)

**Epilogue  
**

 

 

**8 weeks later, Seattle.**

 

“I told you so.”

Brandt didn’t jump, didn’t show any surprise although he was that she had managed to sneak up on him. He did glance on his right. True enough, Maria was walking besides him, hands in the pocket of her jacket. Her hair was flying loosely over her shoulders, eyes set straight ahead. If she hadn’t called on him, he would have never noticed her.

“Fancy meeting you here.” He replied. “Ethan said you couldn’t stop by because you were on a new hunt.”

He had just walked out of the reunion during which Hunt had convinced him to pick up his phone.

“I was, but this place is on my way back. Figured I could stop by and talk to you for an update.”

He noted she didn't mention her uncle, but him in particular. It boosted his ego somehow.

“So you were there the whole time?”

“Sitting at the front porch. I’m still amazed you didn’t see me. Are you sure you’re IMF agents?”

“Shut up.”

Maria smiled. It was a nice smile, he thought again, she should smile more.

“So why are you here?”

“I told you, I came for an update,” her tone turned businesslike, like a silent warning not to dig too deep. “But first of all, thank you for not telling Ethan, about my job.”

“I still don't quite know what is it you do exactly, but you’re welcome.” He hesitated before asking: "What kind of update are you after?" 

"Make sure IMF is back on tracts, ask if Ethan has been sent on a new mission...I don't need details, just a 'yes' or 'no' would suffice."

"And will you come back later for more?" Brandt couldn't help but ask, slightly suspicious. Maria shrugged.

"We will find out soon enough. Just thought I could take a shortcut asking you. So?"

She was eyeing him expectantly. Brandt hesitated again, then figured she couldn't gain much information from these questions and replied 'yes' to both. They kept walking for a bit in silence before she added:

“My boss tore me a new one after hearing Hendricks died. He told me we should have focused on was capturing Hendricks since they deactivated the missile thirty seconds after it took off.”

Brandt took a double stare at her.

“Are you serious?”

Maria nodded.

“I couldn’t join them back then, so I had no idea…”

“I meant, your boss deactivated a missile in motion? How did he do that?”

“He probably hacked into the systems; you’ll have to ask our technicians for the specifics. I don’t fully know the drill.” Her lips thinned into an annoyed line. “I think you tend to underestimate agencies that aren’t IMF." She promptly changed the subject: "How do you feel after talking to Ethan?”

“Relieved and angry, but mostly relieved.” Brandt shook his head, still reeling at the recent revelation. “Do you know how Julia died?”

“You mean do I know where she was hidden after her death was faked?”

Brandt rolled his eyes; of course she did.

“Never mind. Are you going to show up more often?”

“IMF and SHIELD are two different businesses. I have a busy schedule so unless Ethan calls or in case of a joined investigation –which isn’t likely to happen since our mutual Directors hate each other’s guts - I don’t have a reason to stick around.”

“Oh.” He said, barely hiding his disappointment. They walked down the street and stopped at the intersection. There, Hill faced him and gave him that half-smile of hers.

“This is where I leave.” She said quietly. “Please keep Ethan safe on further missions and thank you, Will. For everything.”

She kissed his cheek and walked away. The light pressure of her lips tinkled against his skin and she was halfway down the street when Brandt realized she had called him by his first name. What had she said about first name basics already? He made up his mind and ran after her.

“Hey…eh… Maria?”

The brunette stopped and turned around. Brandt took a deep breath and asked:

“Would you like to get a coffee now? Or are you, you know, busy saving the world and all.”

Her steel blue eyes widened a little in surprise and she stared at him for what he thought were hours.

“I’ve got time before extraction.” Maria eventually replied. “I wouldn’t mind now.”

The small smile appeared again and this time, Brandt couldn’t help but return it.

**Author's Note:**

> Also I made Ethan's stay in jail last 3 years. It sounded reasonable enough.


End file.
